World Turns Slowly
by Storymaster Caith
Summary: fifty sentences surrounding the lives of Ice Maiden Yukina and her Temple Guardian, an irritable rokurokubi by the name of Toguro. An offshoot of Birdwatching.


_**A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know I said I was taking a trip away from fandom, and I still am, but during a break in my real work I took a look at this old prompt. Remember my yu yu fic Birdwatching? You don't? Well, that's okay, I don't blame you, it's pretty forgettable, because for the life of me I couldn't get Ani and Yukina to agree with what I wanted them to do. So here is another set of fifty sentence prompts I did as a writing exercise to see how these two demons ticked. No real warnings, besides the odd pairing choice.**_

_**World Turns Slowly**_

_#01 – Air_

Ani claimed that the air was better at the top of the temple, and that was why he sat there. Yukina didn't tell him she knew he was watching over her, because then he would get irritated.

_#02 – Apples_

When Yukina couldn't find a paring knife to peel the apples, Aniki sat in the kitchen for two hours and allowed her manipulate his transformed fingers as she would, wondering silently when he had lost his mind.

_#03 – Beginning_

In the beginning, Toguro-san was nothing more than a shadow to Yukina. She marked the day he sat down with her for tea as an accomplishment rivaling any great attack of Genkai's.

_#04 – Bugs_

Though all other animals fell silent at Toguro's approach, the bugs always continued about on their business. Their small lives were not endangered by demons, or gods.

_#05 – Coffee_

Yukina learned to make a mean cup of coffee as soon as she understood that without it, her Temple Guardian was little more than a grunting mess with bags under his eyes.

_#06 – Dark_

The idea of someone being afraid of the dark wasn't foreign to Aniki Toguro. He just wasn't expecting the Ice Maiden he lived with to come into his room when the electricity went out, holding a candle and asking hesitantly, "May I stay in here with you?"

_#07 – Despair_

Watching her cry and knowing that he caused it created such sweet despair.

_#08 – Doors_

The sliding doors in the temple might have been traditional and elegant, but in Ani's opinion they shattered far too easily.

_#09 – Drink_

He'd dragged out Genkai's stache of alcohol when Yukina explained that it was her birthday. He never did tell her that she did a marvelous Hiei impression when she was completely sauced.

_#10 – Duty_

If she told him to stop, then he stopped; if she ordered death, then he killed. It was strange, after so long, to pledge allegiance to a red-eyed maiden, but Ani didn't wonder if he'd been her retainer from the start.

_#11 – Earth_

Sometimes he would bury his face in the dirt and just scream until he could taste the earth on his tongue.

_#12 – End_

"Just had to go and die, you bitter old bitch. Well I'm not sorry. _I'm not." _

_#13 – Fall_

Fall was a time for raking leaves, cleaning house, preparing for winter. It was also Ani's birthday. Yukina gifted him with a kiss and a pair of earrings, made from an ice maiden's tears.

_#14 – Fire_

Ani never really understood why Yukina was so comfortable with explaining to guests that they kept the trash barrel out back so that they could burn her Temple Guardian's clothes.

_#15 – Flexible_

"See? I told you I was flexible…Yukina-san, your nose is bleeding..Yukina-san?!"

_#16 – Flying_

Yukina's fingers wrapped around his arms were all that kept him from begging her to let him go, let him get back down on the ground. Instead, he bit his lip and let the Ice Maiden fly with him.

_#17 – Food_

Yukina's nightmares were delicious things, full of tears and locked doors. He ate the fear with relish and slept beside her. When she woke to find him with his back to her, she would touch his shoulder- only once-and always softly. He always pretended to be asleep.

_#18 – Foot_

Ani's head lolled to the side, his mouth a wide and sickening grin; his opponent never saw the dainty foot moving, heralding the mannaquin that stabbed him through the spine.

_#19 – Grave_

Genkai's grave was always freshly decorated with flowers; and some were from Demons, others from Gods, and none-too-few from humans. But there was always a single lily that came from an old team mate, who couldn't bring himself to say it.

_#20 – Green_

"I think you would look very good in green, Toguro-san. It would match your eyes so beautifully."

_#21 – Head_

Yukina thought that she must be very odd, to be entirely at ease when Toguro-san's severed head flew by the gates, swearing; it meant that he was winning, usually, and he always managed to keep the blood from staining anything too badly.

_#22 – Hollow_

Yukina was sometimes caught up in memories that had her staring into the distance, her eyes hollow, her soul drifting.

_#23 – Honor_

"Toguro-san, DON'T KILL HIM!"

and no matter how wild the bloodlust, he would always stop.

_#24 – Hope_

Sometimes Aniki Toguro would smile and laugh, and inside Yukina's breast a tiny flame of hope would grow just a little higher.

_#25 – Light_

The sunlight would come leaking in early in the mornings and when Yukina brought her Temple Guardian his tea, she would see how far he had scootched from his bed in order to avoid the morning.

_#26 – Lost_

Yukina only got lost on the mountainside once, and had never felt better when that raspy voice said, "_There _you are." As though speaking to a petulant child.

_#27 – Metal_

The metal of Hiei's sword had never bitten deeper than when Aniki looked into those furious eyes and said, "She already knows the truth, you fool."

_#28 – New_

It took Genkai twelve years to get around to installing a landline in her temple. It took Yukina and Ani another five to figure out how to use the computer that Kuwabara had left them with.

_#29 – Old_

Watching the city lights come closer year after year, Aniki Toguro felt old.

_#30 – Peace_

Sitting on a rock near the tideline, watching Yukina chase crabs in the surf, Toguro thought that this might be as peaceful a moment as he ever got.

_#31 – Poison_

Yukina sworn she hadn't known the berries were poisonous; Ani waved her off and spent the night in the bathroom.

_#32 – Pretty_

Only to herself would Yukina ever admit that the way blood streaked near Aniki's golden eyes made him pretty.

_#33 – Rain_

Toguro-san didn't like rain; when it came down he would sit on the porch and it was always Yukina's opinion that he seemed to whither for a little bit, blending into the grey until that was left were his eyes.

_#34 – Regret_

Aniki Toguro's regrets could fill the ocean, and he kept them to himself; but watching Yukina feed the birds he always felt the tiniest stab in his gut, because some regrets refuse to die.

_#35 – Roses_

Kurama planted the roses, Yukina cared for them, and Aniki tried hard not to fall into them when he finished the fights everyone else started.

_#36 – Secret_

It was when the sunlight brushed her hair, changing it from blue to burnished gold, that Ani felt the secret press at the back of his throat; but he always bit it down, because he'd learned his lesson.

_#37 – Snakes_

Snakes seemed to have an affinity for Ani, the way no other animal did. Yukina was forever shooing them off the porch, and as they slithered away she determindly pretended that they weren't waving their tails goodbye.

_#38 – Snow_

"Is it true?" he asked quietly as they watched the first pale flakes drift towards the ground.

"Is what true?"

"Mother told us they were your tears. The tears of ice maidens, I mean."

Yukina felt herself smile. "Sometimes it's true." She said quietly, taking his pale hand in hers. "Sometimes."

_#39 – Solid_

Whenever her dreams were particularly bad, Yukina could count on small hands, strong fingers, an anchor to the living world telling her to wake up.

_#40 – Spring_

"Do you know what snow becomes?"

"Water?"

"No, silly. Spring!"

_#41 – Stable_

Stable had never been a word Aniki Toguro easily attributed to himself. 'Stable' and 'Toguro' didn't even belong in the same sentence. But when he came up the stairs with a new shirt to wash, Yukina was waiting with a cup of tea and a smile. And perhaps that was as stable as he needed.

_#42 – Strange_

Some thought it strange when blood-stained clothes were hanging cheerily out on Yukina's line, but she thought it would be strange if they weren't there at all.

_#43 – Summer_

When Yukina admitted that she hadn't been to a Bon festival before, Kuwabara offered to take her; he couldn't say it surprised him when the Ice Maiden came to their meeting place dragging an irate demon in a dark blue kimono.

_#44 – Taboo_

Mentioning Oto's name was taboo, no matter who you were. Yukina understood this as no one else did, but hadn't managed to warn their newest ward in time. She didn't particularly mind the mess; he hadn't been pleasant company.

_#45 – Ugly_

Aniki Toguro's body was flawless, bearing no signs of any of the trauma it often endured. He healed cleanly from every cut, scrape and abrasion. Yet looking at Yukina's inner wrists, with the burned-in reminders and long, deep scratches, he knew that he was the ugly one.

_#46 – War_

When Yusuke Urumeshi had told them there was a war on, Yukina had begun preparing beds, mouth set in a thin line; and Aniki thought, watching the refugees file in from Demon World, that here was more bravery than the world could appreciate.

_#47 – Water_

Aniki would go diving in the water and bring her seashells, delicate things she threaded together and hung on the porch, so she could hear the chiming.

_#48 – Welcome_

It was Yukina who bought the welcome mat and it was Ani who kept getting blood all over it.

_#49 – Winter_

There was always something sharper to Yukina in winter, and Ani thought that if he could capture it then maybe she would grow up a little.

_#50 – Question_

"Toguro-san?"

"Yes?"

"Will you stay with me? Always?"

"….yes."

"Good."

_**Kudos to those of you who care enough about fruits basket to find the glaringly obvious reference/stolen bit. **_


End file.
